1. Field
The following description relates to technology for frame data conversion, and more particularly, to a frame conversion apparatus for converting a controller area network frame into an Ethernet frame, and a frame conversion method thereof.
2. Description Of the Background
Controller Area Network (CAN) is an efficient serial communication protocol that supports distributed real-time control with a very high security level. A CAN network using a CAN frame provides a number of benefits such as multi-master support, priority processing, and minute error detection, and thus is widely used in various industries, in particular, in a vehicle network.
Due to explosive increase in the number of Internet users and existing data services, coupled with the development of various types of multimedia services, such as digital broadcasting, video calling, Video on Demand (VoD), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and Voice over IP (VoIP), and the state-of-the art equipment such as a hub, a switch and a router, a packet network is widely used in a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN).
Automobiles of the past were nothing more than a simple transportation system for delivering people or cargo, but automobiles of today are used as an infotainment system having functions of information and entertainment in addition to the function of the conventional transportation system.
Accordingly, in order to support vehicle multimedia services, an Ethernet frame of the packet network is being introduced into a vehicle network to transmit a large amount of data at a high speed.
However, the CAN frame that transmits data in the CAN network has a different frame format from the Ethernet frame that transmits data in the packet network, and thus data transmission is impossible without frame conversion.
Accordingly, there is need for a method for converting the CAN frame of the CAN network into the Ethernet frame of the packet network, and the inventor of the present invention conducted research into technology for efficiently converting CAN frame data into Ethernet frame data.
As relevant technology, a gateway apparatus for sharing information between a MOST network system and a CAN network system is suggested in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0436162 (Jun. 4, 2004).